Precious gold glitters for Son, Bahraini claims sprint double

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JAKARTA: South Korea’s Son Heung-min moved just 90 minutes away from the gold medal that would spare him military service on Wednesday as Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong completed a rare sprint double at the Asian Games.

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son played a captain’s role as Korea beat Vietnam 3-1 to reach the men’s football final against Japan — his last chance for a title that would exempt him from a career-threatening, 21-month military stint.

“We’re close to winning gold, to making history, and we will fight for it,” said the World Cup star, whose clever pass set up Hwang Ui-jo for South Korea’s second goal.

Later, Nigerian-born Odiong became only the fourth woman to complete the 100 and 200 metres double when she won the half-lap race in 22.96 seconds, ahead of India’s Dutee Chand on 23.20.

It meant a silver sprint double for Chand, who missed the last Games in a row over her hyperandrogenism, which causes elevated testosterone levels and also affects South Africa’s Olympic champion Caster Semenya.

“God has given me a lot of trouble since 2014. I suffered a lot. Nobody could have suffered so much,” said Chand.“But I came back to give two medals to India — it will be a big celebration back home!”

Japan’s Yuki Koike won the men’s 200m in 20.23 after a photo-finish with Taiwan’s Yang Chunhan, while Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi won a record fourth title in the men’s discus.

There were celebrations among home fans as Indonesia’s Bunga Nyimas, 12, became the Games’ youngest medallist, in the debutant sport of skateboarding.

Nyimas took bronze in the women’s street category behind Margielyn Didal of the Philippines and Kaya Isa, who collected Japan’s 3,000th medal in Asian Games history.

However, scuffles broke out at the boxing venue when an Iraqi fighter’s cornermen clashed with security staff following a contentious loss in the bantamweight quarter-finals.

Two of Jaafar Al Sudani’s support staff were reprimanded over the melee, which followed a defeat to Indonesia’s Sunan Agung Amoragam which they claimed was rigged.

Shi Tingmao emulated Chinese diving greats Wu Minxia and Guo Jingjing with her fourth gold medal, in the synchronised 3m springboard, as China stayed perfect in the competition with four wins out of four.

Vietnam interrupted Indonesia’s clean sweep in the home-grown martial art of pencak silat when Nguyen Van Tri and Tran Dinh Nam won two of the total of 16 golds on offer.

And Uzbekistan’s run in another debut martial art, kurash, was halted when Iran’s Elyas Ali Akbari won the men’s -81kg category.

Elsewhere, Himalayan nation Nepal won its first medal with silver in the men’s team cross-country paragliding — ending a 20-year podium drought stretching back to Bangkok 1998.

China maintained their supremacy on the medals table, reaching 102 golds ahead of Japan’s 32, South Korea’s 37 and 30 for hosts Indonesia.

JAKARTA: South Korea’s Son Heung-min moved just 90 minutes away from the gold medal that would spare him military service on Wednesday as Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong completed a rare sprint double at the Asian Games.

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son played a captain’s role as Korea beat Vietnam 3-1 to reach the men’s football final against Japan — his last chance for a title that would exempt him from a career-threatening, 21-month military stint.

“We’re close to winning gold, to making history, and we will fight for it,” said the World Cup star, whose clever pass set up Hwang Ui-jo for South Korea’s second goal.

Later, Nigerian-born Odiong became only the fourth woman to complete the 100 and 200 metres double when she won the half-lap race in 22.96 seconds, ahead of India’s Dutee Chand on 23.20.

It meant a silver sprint double for Chand, who missed the last Games in a row over her hyperandrogenism, which causes elevated testosterone levels and also affects South Africa’s Olympic champion Caster Semenya.

“God has given me a lot of trouble since 2014. I suffered a lot. Nobody could have suffered so much,” said Chand.“But I came back to give two medals to India — it will be a big celebration back home!”

Japan’s Yuki Koike won the men’s 200m in 20.23 after a photo-finish with Taiwan’s Yang Chunhan, while Iran’s Ehsan Hadadi won a record fourth title in the men’s discus.

There were celebrations among home fans as Indonesia’s Bunga Nyimas, 12, became the Games’ youngest medallist, in the debutant sport of skateboarding.

Nyimas took bronze in the women’s street category behind Margielyn Didal of the Philippines and Kaya Isa, who collected Japan’s 3,000th medal in Asian Games history.

However, scuffles broke out at the boxing venue when an Iraqi fighter’s cornermen clashed with security staff following a contentious loss in the bantamweight quarter-finals.

Two of Jaafar Al Sudani’s support staff were reprimanded over the melee, which followed a defeat to Indonesia’s Sunan Agung Amoragam which they claimed was rigged.

Shi Tingmao emulated Chinese diving greats Wu Minxia and Guo Jingjing with her fourth gold medal, in the synchronised 3m springboard, as China stayed perfect in the competition with four wins out of four.

Vietnam interrupted Indonesia’s clean sweep in the home-grown martial art of pencak silat when Nguyen Van Tri and Tran Dinh Nam won two of the total of 16 golds on offer.

And Uzbekistan’s run in another debut martial art, kurash, was halted when Iran’s Elyas Ali Akbari won the men’s -81kg category.

Elsewhere, Himalayan nation Nepal won its first medal with silver in the men’s team cross-country paragliding — ending a 20-year podium drought stretching back to Bangkok 1998.

China maintained their supremacy on the medals table, reaching 102 golds ahead of Japan’s 32, South Korea’s 37 and 30 for hosts Indonesia.